- 15 hours ago
The Emmy nominee stopped by the THR offices for a candid conversation.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Hi, this is Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter and I'm here with
00:03Laverne Cox and this is Meet Your Emmy nominees. Hi, Laverne.
00:07Hi.
00:08So, Laverne is an outstanding guest actress in a drama series for Orange is the New Black.
00:13Oh my gosh, that sounds so good.
00:16Do you like it better than comedy series?
00:18I just like, I like that. I still can't believe that the Academy has recognized this
00:26and I think it's different for me this time, the second time around,
00:29because I'm an Emmy voter now so I see how many submissions there are and I'm just like,
00:34it seems impossible to get a nomination. So, I'm just so grateful.
00:38Thank you Academy members for thinking this work was worthy of being recognized.
00:43That means a lot to me because acting is something I've wanted to do my whole life.
00:47It's the thing that I'm in my sort of capacity as a public figure.
00:52I'm called upon to do a lot of different things and I always know that I'm an actress first
00:58and I let everyone around me know that and people sort of want to forget that.
01:04So, it just feels really good that the thing I love the most and that I work really hard at
01:08is being acknowledged and particularly this episode and this season that meant so much to me
01:14and means so much to trans folks.
01:17I really, I really want to talk about your character and the particular episode, Dr. Psycho,
01:22but first, I just want to talk to you a little bit about the process of your second Emmy nominations.
01:28Where were you when you found out you were nominated?
01:30I was in my apartment here in LA and I had woken up early to watch the nominations,
01:37but guest actors are not announced when they announce everything else.
01:41So, I saw them and I was excited about all the nominees and then I got a call from Jamie over there.
01:48My publicist, my publicist is over there, you can't see her, but she's on camera, her name's Jamie.
01:53She's cute.
01:54So, Jamie called me and told me and I was sort of like, I was in shock.
01:59And then my manager Paul calls me when I'm on the phone with Jamie.
02:01I'm like, okay, Jamie, Paul's calling and then Paul called.
02:04And then he congratulated me and we started talking and then I just started crying.
02:09Because it's been, I've been with Paul for 10 years and he's my first agent.
02:15I freelanced with some folks, but he's the first agent, my first legit agent.
02:19And there were just a lot of years where I didn't work at all.
02:23I didn't even have auditions.
02:24There were years I didn't have auditions, you know, and it just didn't work.
02:27And I'm like, why am I still in Paul's roster?
02:30I thought he was going to drop me.
02:31And he just always saw something in me that I really didn't even fully see in myself.
02:36And it's really been such a journey and it just, it meant a lot to me.
02:41And then I called my brother and then we talked and I cried again.
02:47I was over, I was really overwhelmed in like such a, like I was shaking for like two days.
02:54And I was, I was calling people and I was literally called my therapist and I was like, I'm like, it was so much.
02:59It was just so, and I didn't experience this the first time.
03:03I don't know, to this, for whatever reason, this time I was just so overwhelmed and my body just couldn't handle it.
03:09I've been doing this wonderful somatic work.
03:11Somatic therapy is about sort of moving sort of trauma through the body and that the body sort of never lies.
03:18And so maybe I'm just more in touch with that stuff now.
03:20And I was just so, I was like, and I needed to just sort of release it.
03:24And I talked to my therapist and Uzo Aduba gave me some incredible advice.
03:27Thank you, Uzo.
03:28I texted her and she was like, how do you deal with this?
03:31She has like, this is her third Emmy nomination.
03:32So I'm like, okay, who do I know who's been through this?
03:35Who's not like so big a star that they're going to be like, what are you talking about?
03:39And Uzo is a huge star, but she's also my friend.
03:43So yeah, it was, it was really intense.
03:48It's just, it's just, it's just so, it just means a lot to me and to a lot of people.
03:54I mean, I'm still the first trans actor nominated for a primetime Emmy.
03:59Yeah.
04:00Um, there still hasn't been another one since the first time I was nominated.
04:04So it's a big deal.
04:06Um, and, um, yeah.
04:09What was the most surprising reaction you got from people who have reached out to you,
04:16maybe to congratulate you or to give you feedback about your nomination?
04:20I can't say anything has been surprising.
04:24It's just been, it was, again, overwhelming.
04:26It's just like your, my text, my phone just like was lit up like for three days.
04:32It's of people sort of congratulating me, like everybody I've ever known who has my phone
04:36number or like can message me on, on Twitter or whatever.
04:39So it was just like, it just was so, again, it was overwhelming, the love and the, and the,
04:45and the support, um, it's really, it means so much.
04:48And we just worked so hard and it's, and it's such a, um, I think it meant so much to me too
04:54because I'm barely in, I'm season four of Orange is the New Black and so I don't have
04:59a lot of screen time but the storyline meant so much to me.
05:02And I worked so hard on it and I did so much research and I wanted to make specific choices
05:08that we could, um, really try to put forth what the experience of solitary confinement
05:15is on a psychological and emotional level for people so maybe people can understand that
05:19this is indeed a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution and it's cruel and unusual
05:24punishment to cut people off from, um, human contact.
05:27And so it was just really important to me.
05:28I think it was important to me too because I was working on a documentary at the time about
05:31a transgender woman who had spent time in prison, Cece McDonald, and had spent a lot of time
05:36in solitary confinement.
05:38So I was shooting it at the same time that we were shooting, um, this documentary and
05:42I was interviewing Cece and we were literally in the depths of having conversations with her
05:47about her experiences and how, and she talks about this in Free Cece, how she was suicidal
05:52and she, um,
05:55it's, it's, it's, it's, it's real stuff.
06:02Yeah.
06:03Um.
06:04This is very important to you.
06:05Yeah.
06:06It, it was really important to me.
06:07So I think that's why too, that it meant, um, it meant a lot to me because, um, it's a really
06:13important story that people need to know.
06:16Well, I didn't expect to get all, excuse me.
06:20What do you think it is about the character of Sophia that really connects with the Academy?
06:26Oh my goodness, um, I would have to ask Academy voters, I have no idea.
06:30I'm so grateful that she connects.
06:32Um, I know, I don't, I don't know, to be honest, I, I, but I do know is when I connect
06:39with characters, it's because I see myself in them and, or I see someone that I know and
06:45there's something, um, human, um, and sort of unexpected.
06:51I love, I love seeing characters, uh, on television and in film who feel profoundly human and maybe
06:59I haven't seen that story before or haven't seen it told in a way that highlights the humanity
07:05in a different way.
07:06When I saw Moonlight, for example, I, I know folks like that, but I'd never seen those stories
07:11told in a way cinematically that, that, that resonated in a, in a new and fresh way and
07:18made me understand something in a new way, right?
07:21I, I, I've always watched television to learn and so I think when a performance, um, and
07:29a character is created in such a way, I understand why folks do what they do in a way that I didn't
07:36understand before.
07:37So that's when I connect with something and I think there's, there's a lot of performances
07:40that are nominated this year that have done that for me and so I, I don't know if that's
07:45what, I'm an Academy voter now, so I don't know if that's what their
07:48connecting to with Sophia, but that's what, um, I connect to, um, with great performances.
07:53Yeah, but one of the things that I noticed, um, comparing, um, like, cinematically Moonlight
08:00to, uh, how Sophia's character is treated in Orange is the New Black, is that it seems
08:07like they, they give you a lot of time to be expressive with your face.
08:11Like, they're, do you feel like you're getting a lot of time while you're shooting?
08:15I know that, uh, television schedules can be very fast, um, but do you feel like, you
08:21know, compared to maybe some of your other roles in television that you've been able
08:25to, like, really take the time to get that kind of camera time?
08:30Yes, and, and, and I, and I, I don't know if I would have been able to say this before
08:35I was shooting Doubt, so my CBS show Doubt, which is currently airing on CBS through August
08:3912th, on Saturday nights at 8pm.
08:41Um, when I, I, so I was shooting Doubt here in LA, and, um, then I flew back to New York
08:47to shoot, um, the last season of Orange is the New Black, and on Doubt, I'm playing a
08:51lawyer, it's network television, we have to get in commercials, right?
08:55And so, it was so much, so many of my notes were like, pace, pace, pace it up, basically
08:59talk faster.
09:00Um, and so I got back to Orange is the New Black, and Nick Sandow, I, hey Nick, I love
09:04you, um, Nick was directing, he's such a good director too, he's brilliant after brilliant
09:08director, Nick was directing, and I was like, still in Doubt mode, I was like, I was speeding
09:13through, he's like, you can take your time, you can slow down, and I swear to you, I will
09:17never forget that, because just having, it's a life lesson too, that you can slow down,
09:23you can take your time, that's a big life lesson for me right now, trying to slow myself
09:26down, but absolutely, I got back to Orange, and I was like, oh my god, there's time, there's
09:31time to, um, luxuriate, to, um, really have the moment, to find the moment, to discover
09:39it, um, I don't think about expressing things through my face, I understand that it is, it's
09:45a visual medium, but I try to just live in the truth of whatever the moment is, and it's,
09:50what's been really interesting, watching my work, is like, I'm like, oh, I did that, I'm
09:55like, surprised myself about what is going on with my face, or my body, I'm like, oh, that's
09:59interesting, because ideally, I'm not thinking about that, I'm thinking about what is the
10:05reaction, like acting is reacting, what is the truthful reaction to the circumstances,
10:11to the other character, what they're saying, to what the director, note to the director
10:15may have given me, what is my organic reaction to the external stimuli, or what's going on
10:21in my head, or emotionally for me, what's triggered in for me emotionally by the circumstances,
10:25and so having that, those, um, reactions be organic, and be, um, truthful in the moment,
10:32it's always what I'm, I'm striving for, so I'm, I'm always surprised, um, often with
10:38like, oh, I didn't think, I didn't know I was doing that, um, and, but that's just what
10:42is happening in the moment, I do make specific choices about the character in terms of how
10:46she talks, and walks, and moves, but then even within that, um, there should be a space
10:52of, of, of the, of the discovery of the unknown, for me, when I can have a moment when I'm
10:59shooting, of discovery, where something happens that I did not expect, either the other actor
11:05has done something, uh, in the scene, or actors have done something that sparks something
11:09that I didn't expect, or the director gives me a note, and that didn't, oh, it's just something
11:13comes up, and I allow it to come up, and something unexpected happens, that is really the best,
11:18those are the best moments for me, as an actor.
11:20Hmm, I, I noticed at the end, the last time we see your character in the last season, you're,
11:26uh, you're in a maximum security prison, and you're handcuffed to a wall, and you're receiving
11:32some information, I won't spoil it for anyone, but your face is, is telling an entire story.
11:40Oh, thank you.
11:41Well, what's interesting for me about, I, I mean, my training is, um, I studied with, um,
11:46I, my current acting coach, who coached me on this episode that I'm nominated for, Brad
11:50Calcaterra, thank you, Brad, um, Brad in, in New York, and then, but my, um, acting mentor,
11:55Susan Batson, um, both Brad and Susan actually talk about layering, um, moments, right, so
11:59that there's, there's the text, and then there's the subtext, and then there's the, sort of,
12:03emotional life, and then there's the physicality, and then there's the sensory condition.
12:07In, in any human moment, there's so many things going on right now.
12:11I'm aware right now of, like, kind of how cold it is in the room.
12:14I'm aware of how my, um, ass feels in the chair, and, like, how my leg is maybe going
12:19a little numb, because it's crossed right now.
12:21I'm doing all that.
12:22I'm having this conversation about Orange is the New Black, and then I'm thinking about
12:25the, the date I had last night, and how, you know, so there's all of these things.
12:29So we as human beings are operating and running so many things at the same time, and so, so much
12:34of, um, the work that I try to do as an actor is to allow all of these things to live
12:39at the same time, so that, like, so, so that it's not just operating on one level.
12:44Um, and, and Susan Battson really instilled that in me, and Brad has reinforced it.
12:47We can have multiple things going on at once.
12:51We can feel, I've been so, there've been so many moments, right, where I was, just getting
12:55the Emmy nomination reaction, the day I had that, when I was sort of so overwhelmed, and
13:00I'm crying and laughing at the same time.
13:02Um, so that, like, that, that, these, this is, this is life.
13:07This is, and so just allowing, um, our humanity and the full range of emotion to live, to just
13:14let it live.
13:15It's, you know, and when I let that live, when we as actors let that live, it should be something,
13:21things should happen unexpectedly, that we didn't know what happened.
13:24And that's, that's, that's, those are the gifts.
13:27Mm-hmm.
13:28What, what was the most challenging thing about that season for you, just, uh, performing
13:33that role?
13:34Oh, gosh.
13:35I think it was what, what, what I believed was required psychologically and emotionally,
13:41that, that what we do as actors is we mine our own, the depths of our own personal experiences,
13:48so that, and, and understand the truth of those, so that we can give those moments to our
13:53characters, so understanding that solitary confinement, that, that Sophia basically was coming out
13:59of having been, uh, physically assaulted in her salon, right?
14:02Mm-hmm.
14:02So she's physically assaulted in her salon, and she goes to Caputo for help, and she certainly
14:08threatens Caputo, which may have caused him to, um, place her in solitary confinement for
14:13her protection, so she's still dealing with the trauma of having been attacked, right?
14:17And then the consequences of her being victimized is her ending up victimized again.
14:24So those two things are happening.
14:26Um, I, I sort of made the choice, when we, we understand that she's not eating, that she's
14:30been, well, she decides to fill out her cell when she puts her food into the toilet, um,
14:34but she's probably not eating, so she's thinner than she was the last time, because the prison
14:38has become privatized, the makeup and wigs that she got to, you know, wear, the wigs she got
14:44to wear, because she worked in the salon, and the makeup, as she presumably got from commissary,
14:48um, she doesn't have access to anymore, so she looks very differently than when we saw
14:52her before.
14:52That was important to tell, is in terms of telling the story.
14:56Um, but then going into the depths of that trauma, the trauma, the PTSD that she was sort
15:01of experiencing, the being cut off from all human contact, the moment, um, when Caputo
15:06says to her that Crystal knows that you're here, and I'm like, you need to call my, I say,
15:11you need to call my wife, and that moment when he says that to me, it's like, I'm already
15:19cut off from all human contact, and you're telling me the person I love most is not checking
15:24for me, it's like no one cares anymore, and if I, the feeling of sort of being thrown
15:28away, and being, going to that place, for me as an actor, in my own personal narrative,
15:39um, and I just went there again, um, I don't want to linger there too long, because it's
15:42not, it doesn't feel good, going there and having to be there, um, for days, um, for an
15:48entire season, um, going to those places of, of abandonment, of trauma, um, where I did
15:54not want to live, um, where I was willing to die or get out of the prison, I mean, I
16:00think that there's, there's a chance when I fled my cell that they might not come and
16:03get me, you know, that I could just drown, there was a chance when I set my cell on fire
16:08that I might not live, um, so, I mean, I think there's a part of me that's like, they're
16:13gonna, it's Sophia that's thinking they're gonna come and get me out of here, they're not
16:17gonna let me die, but they've let all this happen to me so far, they've let all these
16:22things happen to me in prison that are happening to transgender people in prison right now,
16:28that trans folks are being, are being placed in solitary, abused and then placed in solitary,
16:33right, um, the day, the night before I got, I found out about the Emmy nomination, a woman
16:37in upstate New York named Erica King, um, was, we found out that she had been, um, you know,
16:44she had been, um, um, proposition for sex, she went to the, um, CO's in, in, um, a prison
16:50upstate New York, and they were like, oh, this is just a problem, and they, and they,
16:54and they allegedly beat her to a pulp, and then threw her in solitary, and she finally
17:00got a note out, she, every time she would write, write a letter out to, um, try to get
17:04it to the people outside to find out what was going on, they'd sit, give the letter back
17:07to her, shred it up, according to reports, and then she finally got a letter out, and we
17:12found out about it, and, um, she was so terribly beaten and in place in solitary, I'm like, Sophia
17:23was terribly beaten and placed in solitary, these, these things, um, what the fuck, I mean,
17:29I just, I, I, I, what the fuck, um, is going on in the world, um, and, and, and people are,
17:38trans folks experiencing this kind of abuse and discrimination, and then, we're further
17:46stigmatized by, um, an administration that is doing what it's doing.
17:52Absolutely.
17:53So, um, it's just, it's, this stuff is really real, and it's real for me, and, and, um, and
17:59when you act, it has to be real for you, and it has to be this personal, um, and the, the,
18:04the storyline was deeply personal for me.
18:05Yeah, and I, I just want to say, you know, as a testament to your performance,
18:10your character, you can empathize with, you can see her go through so many things, but
18:16she still maintains her power, she's still a powerful person, no matter what.
18:21She's, she's a survivor, there's something in her that, and, and, and, and I love that
18:28they wrote, I love, when I read the script, I was like, fuck yeah, she's, I'm cursing a
18:33lot today, I'm like, but I was like, fuck yeah, she's gonna step there.
18:35She's gonna get this cell on fire, and she knows how to do that, and she's, she's like,
18:39she's gonna fight for her life.
18:41If she's gonna go, if she's gonna go down, she's gonna go down fighting, and there are,
18:46um, there are transgender folks all over the world who are fighting for their lives right
18:53now, and, um, a lot of white girls who've gone down fighting, um, a lot, and, um, I think
19:05about those girls a lot, um.
19:07Can we talk a little bit about, uh, the transgender military ban, um, it's very confusing right
19:14now, I think there was just a report today that the Navy is saying that they're keeping
19:18transgender people despite what the President says, do you have any takes on what's happening?
19:24Oh, God.
19:25Um, I, I, I made a statement yesterday, and I'm so emotional right now, I don't know what
19:31I'm gonna say right now.
19:32If, um, if it comes to, and I'm, and I'm really tired of being loving and magnanimous when it
19:37comes to, um, having conversations about the current political climate, um, as I just stated, that
19:48there, there are trans folks literally fighting for our lives right now, all over the world,
19:52and, um, when the President of the United States, um, tweets out statements that we are
19:59burdensome, and, and it further stigmatizes, um, trans folks, it creates, um, it reinforces
20:06an environment that is already hostile to our existence, um, and, ah, I've said a lot
20:14about this already, and what I will, but what I will say to trans people is that despite,
20:20despite what, what he has said, despite what other folks say, that you are worthy, and I
20:26believe that you are anointed, and you are placed here on this planet for a divine purpose,
20:31it is your job to connect with that purpose, no matter what anybody says to you about you,
20:39and, and we, we have to fight, um, to be ourselves, but it is a fight that is worth it.
20:45I have fought to be myself, I'm still fighting to be myself, but girl, it's worth it. Look at me now.
20:50Absolutely. And, uh, to end on a more positive note, um, in Los Angeles, the school districts
20:58have long been very supportive, uh, policies that protect trans kids. Yes. How important
21:04is that to, to the youth you speak at, speak with at schools, you speak to the youth at schools?
21:11I've often cited, um, it was Assembly Bill 1266 that I believe, um, um, became law in 2013,
21:16that Jerry Brown signed into law, I believe, in 2012. I may have my dates wrong, but I believe
21:21those are the dates. And those, that, that bill, um, um, required schools to allow trans folks
21:27in the state of California to be able to play on the sports teams that are consistent with
21:30how we identify, to use facilities that are consistent with how we identify. And the, the
21:35trans folks and the parents, their testimony of how much safer they feel their kids are because
21:41of this policy. We, hearts and minds have to change, and that's what we're, what, what my job
21:46is in the media is to work to change hearts and minds, but in, we also need to change
21:50public policy, because policies matter when it comes to, um, protecting folks and making
21:55sure that, that, that our, that our lives are treated as if they have value. And I've often
21:59cited, um, um, um, Assembly Bill 1266 and the policies that have been, were, were put into
22:04place here in California as an example for what we can do on a national level to protect trans
22:10kids and, um, make them feel that their lives are valuable and they're safe at school so
22:14that they can do what they're at school for. It's, it's to learn. And, um, we, we hear,
22:19I've heard from trans parents, um, parent, or to say parents of trans kids and trans kids
22:24that they feel so much safer and, um, protected, um, and valued. And that's what we all need
22:30to feel.
22:31Yeah. And because of, uh, Los Angeles being such a progressive state, um, there are a lot
22:36of trans actors that are auditioning, going out to auditions today. Can you give them one
22:40piece of advice?
22:41Can I tell you that, um, so the acting class that Brad Calcaterra, my acting coach
22:44in New York City, started in 2010, seven years ago, was for LGBT actors. When we started
22:50the class, me and Jamie Clayton, Jamie Clayton, you may know from Sense8, we're the only two
22:54trans actors in the class. I went back after Orange is the New Black came out and there were
22:58like 11 trans actors in the class. Can I tell you? And so what's been so exciting about,
23:04um, this moment, this Orange is the New Black moment that is so much bigger than me, it always
23:09has been, is that there's so many trans folks who are inspired to pursue their dreams of
23:13becoming actors, and when they didn't think it was possible before. So what I always say
23:17to actors is that you have to, um, work on the craft of it, um, that you must study. I'm
23:22in acting class now. I have an acting class later tonight. Um, I was in acting class the day
23:28I found out I was nominated for an Emmy. So train, train, train, continue to be involved,
23:32engaged in the process of getting better, but also learn the business of it as well. The business
23:37of, um, being an actor is just as important as the craft of it. And then never give up.
23:41Never, ever, ever give up. Be committed to, um, getting better, make your own projects,
23:47um, and just persevere. Um, and, and what is God's will will happen.
23:55Thank you. And Laverne, I don't want to let you go, so I'm going to ask you one more question.
23:58Okay.
23:59Who would you like to sit next to at the Emmys and why?
24:01Oh my gosh. Um, a really hot man. Um, I think there might be some there. Um, yeah. Um, a
24:11really super duper hot man who's interested. Um, cause the, just sitting next to a hot man
24:16who's not, who's paying you dust means nothing. So if I'm sitting next to a hot man who's like
24:21single, available, and flirting, that's amazing.
24:25There's qualifiers, right? You have to, you have to be very specific with what you asked
24:31for with the universe. You have to stay available.
24:33When you are doing your manifestations, you must be very specific with the universe.
24:38Be intentional. The four agreements, be intentional with your language.
24:42Laverne Cox, thank you so much for being here, and we will see you on Emmy tonight.
24:47See you then.
24:48Bye.
24:48Bye.
Be the first to comment